Talking 'Bout My Generation
by bluegames
Summary: Ten little things about the Next Generation that makes them who they are. First up: Louis.


**Louis Weasley**

* * *

He disliked almost all of his sister's boyfriends. Especially Dom's. At least after all of Victoire's dating mistakes she found someone like Teddy. But Dominique always fell for a jerk, a boy who couldn't help but break her heart. Though she put up a brave front, Louis knew his twin better than anyone else in the world, and he knew she _thisclose_ to falling apart. So every time she brought a boy home, promising that '_this one's different, Lou_,' he made sure to be as rude as possible, in hopes that the lowlife would bail early on and save Dominique the tears. Even when she dated Lysander Scamander, Louis's best friend and a boy he knew since he was born, he still kept a watchful eye on him.

To him, no one was good enough for his sister.

* * *

He had a reputation during his years at Hogwarts. It wasn't his fault, not really, but it didn't matter. All it took to start the string of rumors was one girl: Everleigh Bishop. She asked him to go to Hogsmeade with her and he declined, saying that he was already going with Alexandra Huxley. Somehow, the story got twisted into that he asked both Alexandra and Everleigh and tried to go on two dates at once. Ever since then, he was known as a player. He didn't really mind being called that until Seventh Year when he decided he was in love with his close friend, Starla Wood. She was beautiful, and kind, and funny, and way too smart to fall for a "heartbreaker". At least, that's what her best friend told him after he confessed his emotions for her.

That's when he started to care what people thought of him.

* * *

Although he loved all his cousins, he and Roxanne were the closest. She was hysterical, and when you got the two of them together, you could expect mischief. Roxanne was always laughing, or smiling, or some variation of both. She understood sadness, having dealt with it a lot herself, and knew how to cure it. In the months after he graduated, she would Floo to his loft in London and make him get up and "_Do__ something with your life! Starla Wood isn't that fantastic, and certainly not worth moping over. I know for a fact that she doesn't like chocolate. I mean, seriously, who doesn't like __chocolate__?! She's crazy, I tell you!" _He would start laughing and she would stand there with a smug little smile, waiting for his laughter to pass so she could demand they go out. That night, at a dingy Muggle bar, he met Adeline Aresphine. She sat all alone and in a burst of Gryffindor bravery, he approached her. Looking up at him, she smiled and said, "Hey." And instead of greeting her back, he simply asked, "Do you like chocolate?"

His favorite cousin was Roxanne, especially since she led him to his future wife.

* * *

Adeline was independent. She didn't need him like Victoire did or like Lily or Lucy or Molly or any other of his younger cousins did. She had her own opinions on things (particularly _him_) and didn't want him constantly doting on her. When he first met her, he thought she was beautiful. But after he turned on the Veela charm and she flat-out rejected him, he decided she was _enchanting_. She left the bar that night, and he didn't see her for another two years. He almost forgot about her, but then, while he's visiting family in France, he found out her parents are his grandparent's neighbors. Pleasantly surprised by this, he tried to pursue her, just to be shot down every time.

It's a good thing his ego was impenetrable.

* * *

Louis couldn't speak French. And in his family, that was a problem. Often times, when you walked into Shell Cottage you could hear Fleur and Dominique gossiping, or Dom and Victoire exchanging secrets, or Fleur yelling at her daughters; all in rapid French. Even his father could speak it (he was awful, but he could get the point across). It drove Louis mad when his sisters where discussing something and then started laughing, and he couldn't find out what was _so funny_ because he didn't understand them. But Adeline was French, and she while she was often sarcastic and biting, he knew she loved teaching it to him.

And he loved learning.

* * *

When he proposed to Adeline, they had been going out for a total of four hours. Sure, they had been friends for years, ever since he approached her in that Muggle bar. He was twenty-four now, and having loving her since he was around twenty, in his mind they had been together for four years. Four hours, four years…what's the difference? It didn't matter that she could barely stand him for about one of those years, it didn't matter that she was a Muggle, and it certainly didn't matter that she said _"no_", proclaiming him insane and then storming out of the coffee shop.

Because Louis Weasley does not give up.

* * *

His father died on his birthday. He was newly twenty-six and invincible, dating the girl of his dreams, when Dominique and Victoire showed up at his door. He can't remember Dominique crying since First Year, and although there were no tears, her blue eyes, so much like his, were red and puffy. Victoire was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe and when Dominique spoke, her voice took the icy tone she used when she was trying to hold herself together. "What happened?" he asked as he invited them in. "Is everyone okay?" Victoire flung herself at him, crushing him in a hug. Her tears soaked his shirt, but he couldn't be bothered with comforting her right now. Dominique just looked at him, her eyes sad and lost, "Dad…he, uh, didn't…Death Eaters intercepted him…and, he…" Finally, her mask splintered apart and her emotions blew into the room, filling the air with the sound of weeping and the heavy weight of grief. Louis couldn't move, the breath freezing in his lungs. "Is he okay?" He demanded, "Oh, Merlin, Dom, please tell me he's okay." Slowly, she shook her head.

He still refuses to celebrate his birthday.

* * *

Louis didn't feel brave. Sure, he was in Gryffindor, but that didn't mean anything. After receiving the news of his father's death, he stayed in England for about a week, most of it spent locked in the loft he shared with Adeline, before escaping across the ocean, no destination in mind. He couldn't stay in the Burrow, with his family, when they were either crying or screaming or way too silent. He needed life, he needed adventure, he needed to _forget_. And he knew that if he did this, if he left, that Dominique would never forgive him. Hell, probably all the cousins would hate him, too. Possibly even some of the aunts and uncles. But what they didn't understand is that he needed the room to breathe, to grow outside the sorrow. Before he left, he thought about all the things he would miss. His niece and Dominique's seven-year old child, Fae, growing up, Lily and Lucy and Rose growing older, Victoire having children, Dominique getting married, Hugo becoming an Auror, Roxanne meeting a guy she actually liked…the list went on and on, but he didn't let it stop him. Exactly a week after his father died, Louis stepped into a fireplace with Adeline, and didn't return for years.

His family didn't think him brave, either.

* * *

Louis used to want a big wedding. He wanted the huge cake that Grandma Weasley baked, for all his cousins to be there, to be wearing a tux, and, most of all, he wanted his dad to be in the crowd of familiar, dear faces. But his dad was dead, his cousins in different stages of shattering, and it didn't matter anyway, because he and Adeline got married in a court room in Mexico, no tux or dress and certainly no huge cake. But, somehow, he's okay with it all, because Adeline is standing next to him in a white blouse (they couldn't afford a dress, but they tried), grasping his hand, he's more in love with her than he's ever been, and _guess what_?

He couldn't want it any other way.


End file.
